Vanessa Marano Joins ABC’s Pilot “Untitled Michael Jacobs Project”

Vanessa Marano who started acting in the theater when she was seven years old, has performed in numerous plays at The Stage Door Theater in Agoura Hills, California. She began her professional career with several national commercials. She has had recurring roles in the hit television show “Without a Trace” (2002) (playing Hanna, the daughter of Emmy Award winning actor Anthony LaPaglia), “Gilmore Girls” (2000) (playing April Nardini) and “Six Feet Under” (2001) (playing Tate Pasquese). Her guest-starring credits include “Malcolm in the Middle” (2000) and “Grounded for Life” (2001). She was a series regular in the HBO Original Series, “The Comeback” (2005), playing Emmy Award winning Lisa Kudrow’s stepdaughter, Francesca. She has starred in many pilots which include: “Boys Life” (2006), Hell on Earth (2007) (TV), “Miss Guided” (2008) and “Party Down” (2009).

Vanessa’s first film was the animated hit, Finding Nemo (2003), followed by the independent film, Easy (2003). She starred as a young girl who becomes a quadriplegic in The Brooke Ellison Story (2004) (TV), directed for television by Christopher Reeve, and she recently worked with director Jan de Bont on the film, Stopping Power (2009).

One of her upcoming roles includes playing Eric McCormack’s daughter in the new TNT series, “Trust Me” (2009) and Layne in the movie version of The Clique (2008) (V).

Vanessa speaks Italian and Spanish, and she is enrolled in her freshman year in college.

Source: IMDB.com